FTM questions

taraleanne

My LO is 2 weeks old

 

Will a breastfed baby always burp after a feeding? I try burping him but sometimes nothing comes out.... but then sometimes he gets hiccups about 10 minutes after I put him down after a feeding. Is this normal or a sign that he still has gas to work it's way out? I feel like it disturbs his once peaceful sleep, he can usually work it out on his own though not always... he sometimes makes a lot of little squeaks and noises when he is sleeping.

Sometimes his breath is very laboured at the beginning of a feeding but tapers off near the end, is that normal? Sometimes he has a little snore too. Of course I'm worried about him being sick already!

Sometimes it's as if he has trouble pooping and other times he has no problem. This can happen all in the same few hour stretch so it would be very hard to tell if it had something to do with what I ate.

Is it too early to try a pacifier? I feel like BF is well established but sometimes when he is awake he seems like he just wants to suck on something. I let him suck on my finger for a while and he seemed very happy.

Thanks! 

 

VPGIRL06

Hi! Congratulations! First off-No, not all babies will burp. He may have hiccps due to an unreleased gas bubble but he may also just have hiccups! My daughter had hiccups every day, from 6-12 weeks, 3-4x a day. Now at almost 16 weeks, I don't think she has had them in over a week.  She doesn't always burp (and she's bottle fed) and it doesn't seem to bother her.  She did go through a period where she was reeallllyyy difficult to burp, but now she usually does.

 He makes noises because he's a baby Babies are noisy sleepers, and spend much more time in "dream" sleep than adults do.  Right now, I'm watching my 4 month old daughter move her arms, and laugh-with her eyes closed. She's asleep, just dreaming baby dreams!

The breathing mechanisms in babies are still very immature. Your son is still learning HOW to breathe, so there may be times his breathing is rapid, then even stops for a few seconds. It's completely normal.  Snoring occasionally is also normal-little nostrils get clogged up quickly!!

Your little one will grunt and seem to strain to poo sometimes. This may pick up in the next couple weeks-their digestive systems are "waking up" and they are now aware of the sensation of HAVING to poo.  And with EBF babies, their poo can come multiple times a day, once a day, or once a week!  As long as it's that mustardy, seedy texture than you're golden.

The pacifier thing is a personal decision, IMO.  My daughter is bottle fed and never really care about her pacifier.  I didn't push it, and luckily she never needed it to sleep. I know most BF purists will say to wait another 2 weeks, but I also know when I was BFing initially I introduced a pacifier ASAP because my daughter had issues with the mechanisms of sucking and the LC thought it would help. She still didn't take it, still didn't breastfeed, and until 14 weeks had some issues with swallowing/sucking a bottle. She's better now. So, it's up to you.

 

 

 

 

vrj0522

All of those concerns are normal so no need to worry. It's not too early to try a paci, we gave ours one at 3 days old because he just absolutely needed one otherwise he would cry all his waking hours. With burping, he should probably burp most times but if you don't see it happening, then he'll be fine and even when he burps he might still get the hiccups. Babies that age get the hiccups all the time for no apparent reason most of the time. 

Congrats on being a new mommy!

 

 

eltar08

My pedi says that the hiccups are caused by the stomach being distended post-feeding and making contact with the diaphragm.  The hiccups are the involuntary response of the stomach and diaphragm touching.  Babies probably grow out of it because once they grow bigger, there is more space in there.